South African trends in masters and doctoral research in Public Administration

Abstract:

It is safe to assume that research by masters and doctoral students in Public
Administration is meant to contribute to meeting the need for scholarly knowledge
and insights by public administration practitioners. It therefore makes sense to ask
whether dissertation and thesis research by South African postgraduate students
in Public Administration focus on the issues that are of real importance. This
article reports on an analysis of information available on the Nexus database of the
(South African) National Research Foundation (NRF) about completed research
for masters dissertations and doctoral theses in Public Administration from 2000
to 2005. The analysis shows that the profile of completed South African masters
and doctoral research in Public Administration is dominated by Stellenbosch
University and the University of the Western Cape, which are together responsible
for 38.3% of the total research output. Research masters degrees currently form
the bulk (52.63%) of postgraduate research output in Public Administration.
Doctoral research, with 22.22% of the postgraduate research output, seems to be
well represented. The two institutions excelling in doctoral research output (the
University of Pretoria and the University of KwaZulu-Natal) are not the top
two Public Administration research institutions in South Africa as the number
of doctoral degrees awarded are far fewer than the number of masters degrees
awarded. The analysis also shows that the bulk of the research is concentrated
in three categories of research topics, of which two correspond strongly with the
needs for knowledge expressed by government. This analysis of the Nexus database
provides a profile of Public Administration postgraduate research in terms of
institution, type of qualification and category of topic that will set the scene for
further research, specifically with regard to the quality of the research.

Citation:Wessels, J.S.(2008).South African trends in masters and doctoral research in Public Administration. Administratio Publica. 25(2). 97-120

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